Fast and Furious: The New Way To Work Out

When it comes to your body, you get what you give. Luckily, that no longer means hours on the treadmill or double Spin. Celebrity trainer David Kirsch says that quality over quantity is the missing link to reaching your get-fit goals.

"First and foremost you need to identify a reasonable realistic goal," says Kirsch, founder of David Kirsch Wellness and the Madison Square Club in New York City, who Liv Tyler and Kate Upton regularly look to for total body toning. "Are you a newbie, someone who was fit and just took the holiday off? Where are you starting?" Why this is so crucial: so you don't set yourself up for fitness failure. Once you come to terms with and acknowledge where you're starting, you can then decide where you can get to and when. The best news: research proves—and Kirsch knows firsthand—that once you jump on (or back on) the workout bandwagon, you don't have to stay on it for hours on end to see results.

"For me, the way I go about training all of my clients is by using short bursts of interval training—it's the most effective for burning calories as well as for cardiovascular health and making you stronger," he says. And the benefits aren't body only. "There's less time to be bored and distracted and it gives you more access to working out—you can fit in snippets throughout the day," he says. The most important thing to know—it's as, if not more, effective as a 60 or 90 minute duration. "You aren't resting inbetween, checking your phone or chatting," he says.

Because the truth is, if you do it right (translation: give it your all and get super uncomfortable the entire time), you shouldn't really be able to do more than, say, thirty minutes of a fully body intensive workout. Because if you can do an hour, you probably aren't working hard enough. "The point of workouts are no longer to do double 60-minute sessions or go to classes five times a week," says Kirsch. "You don't want to burn out and beat your body up."

What is crucial is that you do a hybrid of moves that incorporate strengthening and cardio to max out the toning and fat-burning results. Case in point: one of Kirsch's go-to basic circuits, which includes a back-to-back sequence of pushups, planks, squats, shadow boxing and crunches. "This circuit is very intense because you are doing each to exhaustion—completing as many as you can for as fast you can—resting for 30 to 60 seconds max inbetween and then moving on to the next and repeating the entire thing three times," he says. "For each, push it until you can't move." Next up is a cardio blast. Hit the treadmill, elliptical or rowing machine for 15 minutes like you're an Olympian sprinting for the finish line. What that all equals? "A full body weight-baring workout that is also cardio intenstive, so you get toned and burn fat," he says. "Even if you just did part one it would be very effective, the second part is like extra credit."

"The point is to hit various parts of the body—not just one or two like many workouts do," says Kirsch. Not only will you multi-task during your workout, but you'll notice better results and faster, too. "It wil lead to a more visually pleasing aesthetic," he says. Instead of building a lot of muscle in one spot, you get leaner all over, and therefore, you'll look leaner allover as well.

As for the list of excuses that are sure to pop up once the New Year, New You vow slows down? Don't. Even. Think. About. It. "I have clients who travel all the time so getting in a 45 or 60 minute workout is not realistic for them," says Kirsch, who created his signature Look Fit: 5 minute quickies and put them on YouTube for this exact reason. "You need to stick to a workout that fits into your lifestyle, targets your body issues but also correlates to your objectives, whether you're at home, on vacation, in the office, or on the road." And while you might work harder than you ever have in shorter bursts, it's over quickly and you'll see the body benefits. According to Kirsch: "And that is what is going to motivate you to stick to it."